


The Fire That Burns

by StevetheIcecube



Category: Warriors - Erin Hunter
Genre: F/M, Knowing when the time comes, Lung Cancer, Tragedy, saying goodbye
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-24
Updated: 2013-08-24
Packaged: 2017-12-24 12:45:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 634
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/940155
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StevetheIcecube/pseuds/StevetheIcecube
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mintheart has a great life. A mate that loves her, a caring brother, two lovely kits.</p><p>But the time comes that she contracts a terrible illness that can't be cured.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Fire That Burns

It's a flame that burns inside you...

I can't stop it, Briarstar, I'm sorry. I really love you, but I can't stop it. I can't.

I was gasping for breath. I shouldn't be exhausted, right? I'd only been a warrior for a few moons. Although I'm a senior warrior, I'm not old.

I pride myself in being fit and healthy. My beautiful tortoishell pelt is always soft and well-groomed, I'm always sleek from hunting, no matter how many fish I eat.

I stopped, panting. The patrol soon noticed that I wasn't with them, and Briarstar dropped back, looking concerned.

"Are you okay?" His sweet voice asked.

"I'm... not sure." I mewed weakly.

He smiled, and licked my ear gently. "Well, hang on until we get back to camp, and I'll get Lightstream to take a look at you."

I nodded weakly, and leaned on my mate as we padded slowly back to camp.

The moment I got back, I went to Lightstream's den. He looked over me, checking my breathing, my fur for any wounds, my stomach, my temperature, everything.

He then asked Briarstar to leave.

My heart started racing. What was it? The fire still gripped my lungs, hurting me.

"Mintheart... You have a form of lung infection. It... I've seen it before, in a kit I treated a while ago, before you or Briarstar were born. I didn't tell Ashenkit's mother or father, because of the weight it puts on all who get it." Ashenkit... I didn't believe I'd heard much of her, if at all.

"It can't be cured."

I sat there, stone still. I was going to be weak forever?

"You'll die in the next two moons. I'm sorry, Mintheart."

I let out a yowl.

I knew that it was soon. Nearly two moons after Lightstream had told me, and the fire burned hot, so hot it felt like it was searing my lungs.

"I'll always love you, Mintheart." Briarstar mewed gently, grief showing on his face.

"I know, and that's all I can ask." I mewed.

Briarstar... I'd loved him since apprenticeship. I was the one who had comforted him when his sister had become a warrior before him.

"Promise me you'll say goodbye when the time comes!" My brother, Sorrelfern, begged.

I smiled. "Of course."

It was him who had to say goodbye. He was killed by a WindClan warrior the next sunrise.

Redpaw and Frostpaw were sobbing. "I love you, Mama!" They mewed, nuzzling my fur.

Briarstar granted them permission to sleep in his den with me and him until the time came. He's such a good father, he'll take care of them.

"Briarstar..." I mewed. He saw the look in my eyes and sent a patrol into the forest to get Redpaw and Frostpaw from their training.

He licked my ear. "Wait for me."

"Always."

We went into our den, and I lay down in the nest, big enough for two cats and two apprentices, lined with feathers and moss. After a few minutes, our kits came in, and we all lay down together, and started sharing tongues for the last time when I would be alive.

The fire kept on burning.

My eyes felt heavy, but I knew that if I slept, I would wake with stars in my pelt.

Frostpaw's eyes, so like my own amber ones, met mine. They glittered with tears.

"I'll wait for you in StarClan." I mewed confidently, and gave my kits each a lick on the head, and lay down, into my mate, and closed my eyes.

The flames consumed my lungs, burning them away into nothing. I took my final breath, and sighed it out.

Just in the edge of my consciousness, I heard two things.

Three voices yowling in unison, pain filling their yowls, and flames, crackling.


End file.
